Trends in Insert Print Production and Tracking to the Web

The latest news, as told by DM News, is that the proposed merger between Vertis Communications and American Color Graphics is back on, after the two printers announced plans to merge last summer, and then the deal fell apart in September. Apparently their mutual goal is to better address the advertising insert and pre-media services marketplace by enriching their print capabilities and offering a wide range of pre-media and workflow solutions.

Which brings us to the fact that as Acutrack has focused quite a bit in the last couple of years on our on demand CD and DVD replication model. However, we have always been doing the basics, assisting our clients with print production, design, and fulfillment. Now we are seeing a nice combination of online and traditional marketing tactics that will continue to flourish as marketers get a better handle on measurement and metrics for results both online and offline. This leaves room for tweaking campaigns and improved results.

That said, our industry's trends are constantly changing. Back in April, for instance, was the DM News 5^th Annual DMA Insert Media Day, having to do with anything insert-oriented. The latest issues involve the concept of tracking and attibuting. For example, an insert with a Web coupon requires the consumer to respond by typing in specific code - then it is up to the Web tracking technology to capture more informaiton - something more robust like HitsLink or Google's tracking which is free.

Some insert responders won't enter the code but nonetheless were driven to the designated Website by the insert. While many of our clients are now creating incentives for consumers that drive them from print vehicles to their Websites, we continually consult with them to check the ability of these programs to work in conjunction with one another, which is critical for success.

Other trends indicate that in reality every time there are paper cost and postage increases, print insert programs and direct mailers get a boost, as strange as it may seem. Apparently that is when advertisers see dollars that could be saved using insert media and direct mail.

Acutrack knows that our customers can save extra time and money having us handle their printing, then shipping directly to their customer lists. Our direct mail services team is in-house, so we can start the fulfillment process the second a project is complete - no matter if its a job for printed brochure, software in boxes, or DVD production. We're experts on postal rules and regulations, presorting, and postage, plus we use USPS-certified CASS address standardization software for postal rate discounts.

Trends in Entertainment Media

The big issue affecting all sectors of the entertainment and media industry is maintaining control of content and audiences. The days are gone when television and radio programmers held captive audiences. Today's consumers demand control over what they watch, listen to and read, and trends are indicating that more and more people are doing it online.

-Total spending (including advertising) in the U.S. on media of all types was about $930 billion in 2007.
- U.S. advertising spending alone was about $284 billion.
- The number of broadband Internet connections in the U.S. has reached true mass market in size, at about 80 million homes and businesses in 2007
- Advertising on the Internet is now a $17 billion industry.
--Comcast has more than 12 million high-speed Internet subscribers.
(Source: Plunkett Research, Ltd.)

In the recent past DVDs, digital video recorders (DVRs), video-on-demand (VOD) and MP3 players have changed the way we experience entertainment. If you miss your favorite show, you can rent or buy it on DVD or record it to watch any time.

However there are so many new electronic delivery venues, competition among entertainment delivery platforms are evolving more quickly. Now we have the Third Screen cell phone for video and music entertainment purposes. Game machines can now connect to the Internet and play DVDs. Wi-Fi enhances the mobility of entertainment and media access. A serious evolution of access and delivery methods will continue at a rapid-fire pace, and media companies will be forced to be more nimble than ever. The current battle for high definition (HD) video standards is part of it all.

Advertising, the revenue source for alot the media industry, is rapidly moving to the Internet with online advertising growing by leaps and bounds. Just today it was announced in an article in the Wall Street Journal that marketers are likely to start making digital-ad buys a key part of their upfront TV network ad-purchase negotiations.

These are just a few reasons why the business models used by most entertainment companies are now becoming out of date. And as this revolution in new media continues, platforms will evolve quickly, allowing consumers even greater control; therefore competition will become even more fierce. Entertainment companies must evolve in order to deal with new technologies and new demands from their audiences of consumers.

These trends are also affecting the traditional CD and DVD publishing market as well, filled with musicians, smaller independent filmmakers, documentarians or other content producers. In the past, their goods, so to speak, were limited to quantity orders that were warehoused. Minimum orders of 1000 pieces had to be ordered to save and be profitable, with costs were paid up front.

The good news is that Acutrack's On Demand Production allows our customers to manufacture CDs and DVDs on an "as needed" basis, eliminating the up-front costs associated with CD/DVD production. We create custom CDs and DVDs one at a time and ship them world-wide directly to your clients. All our customers have to do is set up a web store, a shopping cart with their product(s) in our effortless-commerce, e-commerce platform. It makes CD and DVD replication, orderiong and delivery really easy.

Advanced technology will continue to change the way we all interact with entertainment venues. And just as fast as it changes, we will be there with new fulfillment solutions.

Eco-Friendly CD and DVD Manufacturing

R. Fayerweather Babcock, b. 1887. "Don't Waste Paper, Paper Is Essential" : a Pound of Paper Wasted Is A Pound of Fuel Wasted.

It appears as if people back in the late eighteen hundreds were thinking about the environment, as this poster demonstrated. Today more and more companies are seriously doing something to accommodate the Green Movement towards leaving behind a smaller footprint. It’s simply not possible to continue with business as usual and not take into consideration how their business practices are affecting our environment. For companies who are in the business of putting out a CD or DVD-based product, there are even more issues that must be addressed compared to that of a service-only business. In fact we even have produced a podcast on the topic of Eco-Friendly DVD Production.

Acutrack has been helping its clients ease the burdens they are placing on the world we live in a number of ways, including manufacture their CDs and DVDs in more environmentally friendly ways.

Last month on April 22nd it was Earth Day, so it is no wonder why the Green Movement is a number one topic. We are all conscious about it, but we are all still trying to learn the different ways that we can leave a smaller carbon footprint – both at home and on our jobs. The concept of being green is important.

There are many types of companies from small businesses such as an artist, to various sized corporations, and even to the government, each are being driven by family, friends, business associates, even politicians, to help plan for the future of our environment. There are a number of frustrations.

One problem for companies who are selling or distributing CD or DVD based products is that many people do not know specifically what to do to render a smaller footprint. For example, many people do not know that the energy efficient light bulbs cannot be tossed in the garbage. That’s illegal in the state of California because they contain mercury! They must be discarded properly at a recycling facility.

Acutrack focuses on talking to our clients in detail in the beginning to seek possible eco friendly solutions. We talk with them about their goals, audience, and even time constraints, of where their products will be delivered and how long it takes -- all of which have an impact on going green. We also help them to look for redundancies and eliminate environmentally inefficient steps.

Basically, the way we do this is to focus on the three R’s: Reduce Recycle and Reuse.
Reduction: We are in the business of optical media, which in itself is very good for the environment. There’s no paper printing involved in optical media.

One example is that we recently helped a client who ships parts manuals to 780 dealers. These 4,000 page catalogs of parts used to be really heavy and expensive to ship. We came up with a DVD ROM where we scanned the manuals and created a DVD ROM with a searchable index. The cost went from $136.00 to $3.00 each, and the job went much faster too. We produced them in nine versus 14 days. Shipping used to cost $11.00 each for postage with UPS Ground and that went to .58 cents each with the U.S. postal service. We saved a lot of trees, and electricity. Overall the DVD ROM left a much smaller footprint. Dealers were thrilled with the searchable index because it takes them less time to find the parts.

Our On Demand Production model also allows customers to have zero inventory, meaning lots less waste and less obsolescence. Acutrack’s On Demand Production is a system that allows our customers to manufacture CDs and DVDs on an as needed basis, eliminating the up-front costs normally associated with CD/DVD production. We create custom CDs and DVDs one at a time and ship them world-wide directly to your clients.

For more information visit the Cal/EPA Education Web site for information on environmental education programs, environmental health hazards and pesticides.

iTunes and Blu-ray DVD Duplication and the BD-ROM

Today, Apple announced via a press release that new movie releases from major film studios and premier independent studios will now be available to purchase on the iTunes® Store on the same day as their DVD release. iTunes movies can be viewed on an iPod with video, iPhone, Mac, or PC or widescreens with Apple TV. New releases are priced at $14.99, and catalog titles at $9.99.

Apple lists that catalog titles will be available from 20th Century Fox, The Walt Disney Studios, Warner Bros., Paramount Pictures, Universal Studios Home Entertainment, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Lionsgate, Image Entertainment and First Look Studios.

This week films that are in the iTunes Store this week concurrent with DVD releases include "American Gangster" and "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly."

Blu-ray.com is a website that talks about everything related to Blu-ray Disc (BD). The technology uses a blue-violet laser to read and write data, ergo the name, which is a combination of "Blue" (blue-violet laser) and "Ray" (optical ray).

On a separate note, the Blu-ray Disc Association says that the spelling - or mispelling depending on how you look at it - of "Blu-ray" isn't a mistake. In order to register the name as a trademark they left the "e" out on purpose.

More an more people are getting used to using Blu-ray because one single-layer disc can hold 25GB of data, or around nine hours, while a dual-layer disc holds 50GB, or apx. 23 hours of standard-definition (SD)video. In order to make sure that the Blu-ray disc format is easily extendable the technology includes support for multi-layer discs, which should allow the storage capacity to be increased to 100GB-200GB, which is 25GB per layer, in the future by adding layers to the discs.

How fast can you read or write data on a Blu-ray disc? According to the Blu-ray Disc specification, 1x speed is defined as 36Mbps. However, as BD-ROM movies will require a 54Mbps data transfer rate the minimum speed we're expecting to see is 2x (72Mbps). As for the future, the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA) already has plans to raise the speed to 8x (288Mbps) or more in the future.

Asheesh Barman has done a podcast on the topic -- How will Blue-ray impact Acutrack, independent filmmakers and our customers? Asheesh Barham has even done a podcast on this topic. Ever since Warner Brothers decided to support Blu-rey, there's been alot of confusion about the topic The difference is it the format of disc that delivers content to the user? Both are high definition discs, we do not need both formats, so now it looks like Blu-ray may win out. In the short term it is too expensive for most of our customers, who are independant film makers, documentarians, and folks who make training films none of which are shooting in HD yet. The authoring is more complex. The programmers need to know JAVA.

We always recommend that our customers focus on content and production, and marketing it. You can maximize your return by using our DVD Manufacturing On Demand, which is a DVD duplication service. It is a system that allows our customers to manufacture CDs or DVDs on an as needed basis, which eliminates the up-front costs typically associated with CD and DVD production. It is perfect if you are selling download-able content, don't know how many units to produce, and do not want to mess with inventory, packaging and fulfillment.

On Demand also allows for custom branding on each DVD disc with unique content or artwork.
It is the best way to automate order processing too, and reduce inventory build-up.